Garrick’s POV
Silence immediately followed my words.
Valerius stayed frozen where he stood with his mouth slightly open, the theatrical sorrow completely drained from his face.
Then, all at once, the room exploded into chaotic noise.
“That’s impossible!” Lord Callister roared, slamming both hands down onto the marble table as he surged to his feet.
“You expect us to believe that? A mute girl from the dirt is your mate?”
“Surely this cannot be true!” another alpha shouted, his face turning red as he pointed an accusing finger at me.
“The Oracle is an abomination, a creature of dark whispers and curses! The Moon Goddess would never cross us like this. She would never make such a creature the next Luna of the Luphiran pack!”
“It’s a trick!” a third voice bellowed over the clamor.
“He’s making excuses to cover up his own dishonor!”
They all started shouting at once, their voices overlapping into a deafening wall of noise, waving their hands, shaking their heads and throwing wild accusations across the table, trying desperately to deny the truth standing right in front of them.
I stayed standing at the head of the table as I watched them.
Deep down, there was a sickening realization that I had made a very costly mistake.
By blurting out the truth and claiming Selah in front of these hungry wolves, I had just painted a massive target on her back.
I had tried to protect her, but instead, I had placed her life in even greater danger.
Now she wasn’t just a mysterious guest or a potential liability; she was the future Luna, and every ambitious man in this room would see her death as a way to weaken me.
How could a girl who had stepped into my territory just a week ago cause so much chaos?
Before she arrived, there was peace—unstable peace, but peace nonetheless.
Now, my council was breaking apart, my borders were crumbling and my own pack was ready to turn on me.
“Alphas! Quiet down!” Ronan yelled.
Then he stepped forward from behind my chair, raising his hands in a calm, firm gesture.
“Can you all just listen to yourselves? You are speaking about the sacred bonds made by the Moon Goddess herself! We do not question who the Goddess chooses to mate with our Alpha Lord. You all know as well as I do that the bond cannot be created by mortal lies. If Lord Garrick says she is his mate, then she is his mate.”
I listened to Ronan as he tried to calm the Alphas, feeling so much gratitude for him.
Right in that moment, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to say anything meaningful without losing my temper entirely.
Under Ronan’s calm words, the shouting began to die down.
Once the room had settled into an uneasy quiet, Lord Valerius slowly stood to his feet.
The broken-hearted father act was completely gone.
He stared across the long table straight at me, and I could see the wolf under the man.
His upper lip had curled back to expose his yellowed teeth as he snarled at me.
“I do not care if that vermin is your mate or not. I will not open my eyes and stand by while my one and only daughter is humiliated like this. I will not stand for it, Garrick. Do you hear me? I will not!”
My anger flared to life again, but I remained silent.
“Now, this is very simple,” Valerius continued, trembling with rage as he pointed a shaking finger at my chest.
“It is either you marry my daughter as planned, or I will withdraw all support from your court. Every support my family provides to this territory will be cut off by nightfall.”
“Easy, Lord Valerius,” Ronan raised his hands to calm the man down.
“Let us speak reasonably about the supply contracts—”
“Shut up, you!” Valerius snapped, swinging his glare toward Ronan.
“I am not talking to you, I am referring to the Alpha Lord!”
Then he turned back to me, his voice rising as he rambled on.
“Your father would have never done this. He would have kept his word and not brought shame upon this pack like this. You are a disgrace to this pack, do you hear me? A disgrace—!”
“I have reached my limit with you,” I interrupted.
“This meeting is over.”
Valerius stopped talking, blinking at me in surprise.
The rest of the alphas exchanged confused glances, looking at me as though I had just made a bad joke.
Nobody moved to leave.
“I said,” I lowered my head, a dark growl rumbling low in my chest, “GET OUT.”
When no one moved fast enough, the last thread of my patience finally snapped.
“LEAVE MY MANSION RIGHT NOW!” I roared.
“ALL OF YOU, DAMMIT!”
The power of the Alpha command forced all of them to scramble out of their heavy wooden chairs so fast that several seats flipped backward and crashed onto the floor.
They shoved past each other, almost falling over their own boots in a bid to reach the double doors and get away from the full force of my anger. This chapter was taken from NovelPing without permission.
Even Valerius stumbled back, his face pale as he hoisted his silk robes and hurried out behind the rest, fleeing the chamber like frightened rabbits.
Within seconds, they were all gone.
I could hear them hurrying down the staircase.
Only Ronan and I were left standing near the head of the table.
I sank back into my chair and put my head in my arms as Ronan threw his head back and chuckled.
“I swear on the Moon Goddess, I have never seen those old fools run so fast in my entire life,” Ronan laughed, shaking his head as he pulled a fallen chair back onto its legs.
“Did you see Alpha Thomas? A man that fat shouldn’t be able to jump over a bench like that. He nearly took out Lord Callister on his way through the door!”
He kept laughing for another moment, but as the chuckles faded, his face sobered up.
He turned back to face me, resting his hands on the back of the chair.
“They won’t forget this, Garrick, you know that,” Ronan said softly, all the humor vanishing from his eyes.
“You pushed them really hard today. They won’t forget.”
“That was the point,” I replied flatly, staring at the empty space where Valerius had stood.
“I didn’t want them to forget. They need to know when they have crossed a line with me.”
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck as reality settled back onto my shoulders.
“There’s so much to be done,” I said, looking up to meet Ronan’s eyes.
“My brother Asher… he wants to stir up trouble because of Selah.”
Ronan’s eyebrows raised slightly.
“Asher?”
“He wants Selah for himself,” I told him plainly.
“He came here on the same day I bought Selah to tell me that he made some kind of agreement with the warden who sold slaves at the Blood Moon Market. He thinks she belongs to him.”
Ronan stayed quiet considering my words for a long moment before reaching out and clapping a firm, reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Asher can be dealt with later, Garrick,” Ronan told me steadily.
“Right now, we have this lot to worry about. Valerius and the council are the fire burning under our feet today.”
I looked at Ronan’s resolute face, hoping deep down that he was right.